House of Cards
by NowComesTheNight
Summary: Fourteen year-old Light Yagami is new to this school, though it didn't matter. Where ever he went rumors followed and kids avoided him like the plague... but what is with this odd senior? LxLight friendship with maybe a spark of shounen-ai.
1. Prologue

House of Cards

Fourteen year-old Light Yagami is new to this school, though it didn't matter. Where ever he went rumors followed and kids avoided him like the plague... but what is with this odd senior? LxLight friendship with maybe a spark of shounen-ai.

Author Note: This is the teaser chapter for a very LONG one shot I am currently still in the process of writing. I would have put off putting this up until I was finished, but wanted to give everyone a nice Christmas present! Happy Holidays!

* * *

"911, what's your emergency?"

"Hello? … I... Help me!"

The operator blinked in surprise. The voice on the other line sounded so young, eleven maybe, but definitely male. He sounded frightened, panicked really, and she was worried he may go into shock before he even told her anything.

"It's okay... just take a deep breath." The operator listened as the boy on the other line complied. Gently, she asked, "Can you tell me your name and how old you are?"

"I.. I'm Light Yagami I'm... uh... I'll be thirteen in two weeks?"

She smiled a little at his answer. Light sounded like he was asking her if his answer was correct. _Yagami_, that name sounded oddly familiar.

"That's good." She cooed, encouraging the boy and trying to keep him calm. "Now can you tell me the problem?"

"It's... my... my Dad! Deputy Police Chief Yagami! He's _dead_!" He shouted, seeming to unravel at the word.

If she hadn't been wearing an ear piece the operator would have dropped the phone in shock. Yagami... Deputy _Police_ Chief Yagami!

"He's dead! He's DEAD! Oh My God! … The blood's _every_where!" Light continued, near hysterics.

"Shh shh... It's okay, just stay calm." She tried to sooth the distraught boy even as she felt her own heart drop.

"Blood... There's blood on my feet..." His voice sounded oddly detached and a touch surprised, as if he'd only just noticed it. The operator was taken aback by the abrupt change in his tone.

"Light, stay on the line please, I need to contact a dispatcher." Her voice was low and gentle.

"My sister... I can hear my sister crying... Oh God! I can't let her come down here!"

"Wait! Light!"

"..."

He'd hung up. She thought about calling the boy back, but it was against protocol so she contacted the dispatcher to report.

"911, we received a report of an officer down at his residence..." She stopped a moment and looked at the information caller I.D. had provided, "349 Townhouse Road. There is also at least two children at the residence, one is exhibiting signs of shock."

After receiving confirmation that both a squad car and an ambulance were en route, she leaned back in her chair and sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. What a way to end her shift.

Light calmly placed the phone back in its receiver. With very deliberate and sure steps, he walked back to the room he had exited only moments ago. He surveyed the kitchen with calculating eyes. Everything was perfect and in its place, just as he wanted it to be. He avoided looking directly at his father's body or he'd feel that pang of nausea again and his hands would begin to sweat and shake. It was a normal human reaction, Light realized, but he needed a calm, level head more then humanity at the moment.

His sister really was crying. Light could hear her in her room, sobbing uncontrollably. The sound brought him to the base of the stairs without thought and he quickly ascended to the second floor, to Sayu's room. Opening the door quietly, he slipped inside. Sayu was in her bed, laying on her side with her legs drawn tightly into her chest and arms crushed against her abdomen. She shook with the intensity of her tears, her pain and fear evident to Light. He felt a wave of emotions crash against him but he didn't try to discern one from another, opting to just feel lost in the swell.

Slowly, carefully, he slipped onto the bed and lay his arm across his little sister. Sayu immediately unfolded and pressed herself into Light's open arms, hands clutching his shirt with white knuckled grip, face hidden against his chest. Light threaded his hands through her hair in slow, calming strokes.

"It'll all be okay." He said, attempting to sooth but sounding rather cold.

"But... but L-Light... yo... you..." Sayu's words were broken by sobs and muted by cloth, but Light knew what his sister was trying to say.

"Nothing will happen to me as long as we stick to the plan." He reassured her. She nodded against his chest, but didn't seem convinced. Knowing what she needed to hear, Light continued. "I promise you, Sayu, I will take this to the grave with me. No one will know the truth and nothing will happen. Not to you, not to me."

Sayu finally seemed to relax, pressing herself even further into her older brother's embrace, drawing strength from his certainty.

Light glanced out the window protecting them from the cold winter night and was surprised to see snow falling. Large, fat flakes that drifted lazily in what ever direction they chose. It was the kind of snow fall that added a touch of magic to everything and, even with sirens piercing shrill, he felt at peace.

A few short minutes later, when the officers found the siblings laying together, they had to wonder at the boy's eerie calmness.


	2. Part 1

A/N: I am so sorry for how long this has taken me to get posted! There is no excuse. Also, this story has taken on a mind of it's own and is taking longer to write, therefore I have cut it up once again into smaller chapters so my readers won't be waiting forever for the next update. Don't know how many chapters this'll end up being, but it can't be too much more then three or four… We'll see. Anyway, enjoy! I hope it was worth the wait!

And thank you to every one who has subscribed, favorited, and reviewed!

...

House of Cards: part 1

_One Year Later_...

It was his first day. He walked through the unfamiliar halls of a new school, other students parting before him like the red sea and whispering behind their hands. Nothing new really, this was his third school in the last year and they were all the same. Infamous Light Yagami; his reputation preceded him.

He never even needed to introduce himself. After all, his father's murder was a high profile case, especially in New England. 'Deputy Police Chief Soichiro Yagami of the Boston Police Department Slain in His Home'. The media was all over it before the body even cooled. Of course, the fact that his, at the time, 12-year-old son was suspected of the crime was just icing on top of an already rich cake for the sugar-starved vultures. Needless to say, Light's name and face were plastered all over every news station imaginable. He couldn't go anywhere without being recognized. Light could handle it, though. Constantly being bumped from one foster home to another, suffering alienation, being criticized by faceless people, and passing through one colorless place to the next. He could handle it.

Continuing to press his way through the crowds, Light glanced down at the piece of paper in his hand. It was his class schedule. He searched the classrooms around him, glancing back at the paper and matching the numbers on the page to the numbers on the doors. Miraculously, he was able to find the room he was searching for. He walked in, found a vacant seat and sat down. The other students turned around, openly staring at him. Light glared back and they quickly turned away in fright. He sighed in frustration; this was going to be a long day.

When lunch time came, Light found himself sitting at a table alone. It was to be expected. Very few people ever sat with the new kid on their first day, but it was even more unlikely for them to be friendly with someone like him. He was used to it, though. Loneliness was a close friend. He ate his sandwich and read his book in solitude, not noticing the pair of eyes watching him intently.

The days wore on in boring monotony. It wasn't until the next week that things became interesting. On a Monday afternoon, Light was sitting in the cafeteria, alone, when he felt the bench shift with extra added weight. He glanced up questioningly and found himself a bit perplexed by the sight. There was a boy sitting, no… a better description would be squatting, next to him. He appeared to be a few years older than himself, with unruly black hair, and wearing clothing that looked like they were two sizes too big. The shoes he wore looked as though he just stuffed his feet into anything without caring or bothering to tie them. The odd-looking boy stared back at Light with wide, blank eyes.

"Hello…" Light began cautiously. "My name is Light Yagami."

"I know. I'm Lawliet Ryuuzaki." He replied monotonously.

Light wasn't completely sure what to make of him. This boy, Lawliet, was so strange, but he had a nagging feeling that he shouldn't be underestimated. He shrugged and returned to the book he'd been reading, deciding to let him make the first move. Just as Light was beginning to think that he would let the entire lunch period go on in silence, Lawliet spoke.

"You, Light Yagami, were suspected of killing your father. Correct?"

Well, that was blunt. Light had expected him to say something along those lines, but to be so forward... he marked where he was in his book and turned to face his accuser.

"I didn't kill my father." He said, calm and concise. However, his statement was ignored as Lawliet continued.

"Light Yagami, average student and yet here you are reading a biographical novel on criminal psychology. Both ironic and not exactly a topic of interest for a freshman in high school. Last week you had a copy of _Anna Karenina (1)_, a novel well above freshman comprehension." He stated with an air of arrogant intelligence.

"And your point is..." Light questioned guardedly.

"You only achieve average grades and yet you are reading college-level material recreationally. One has to wonder about this discrepancy. Do you not care enough to try? Or, are you manipulating your situation to your advantage? Personally, I believe it's the latter."

Light rose smoothly from his seat, lunch tray in hand, and walked over to the trash bins. As he expected, Lawliet followed.

He thought he'd been careful, even going so far as using different jacket covers and making sure those books matched the thickness of the books he was reading perfectly. Maybe it had been too much of a risk to read them at school, but he was honestly just so bored and unchallenged that he needed _something_. Though Light didn't think that any of this would prove anything, he was a little unnerved to realize that someone had been following him so closely without noticing.

After depositing the remains of his lunch in the bin, he turned to his new shadow. "I still don't see what you're getting at, Ryuuzaki."

"I believe you are a manipulative person, Light. The way you pretend to be of average intelligence so convincingly tells me this." Lawliet stood before him; posture slouched, hair disheveled, and dark eyes piercing. Sharp eyes, they held an abundance of knowledge and a gleam of truth that shook Light to the core. "You claim you didn't kill your father, yet all the circumstantial evidence the police have points directly at you. Also, what they did have wasn't even good enough to indict you for the crime, let alone to go to trial with. I would have thought that, with you being so young at the time, you would've made a crucial error. That leads me to believe that you were levelheaded and intelligent enough to clean up the evidence, but all other evidence gathered suggests that it was a crime of passion. Something about all of this didn't add up to me. That was why I took to watching you. Now that I can see your manipulative nature, the pieces are beginning to fall into place."

Light had to force himself to remain calm. He had to remind himself that this person was just a student. With that in mind, he asked, "What is any of this to you anyway?"

"What is it to me?" Lawliet wondered aloud as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. He seemed genuinely thoughtful, like he hadn't considered it before. "Hmm, I suppose, a way to relieve boredom. A game even." Lawliet replied, his voice low and challenging. "Yes, that's right, a game."

_Then lets play._ Light smiled. This was going to be interesting. He quickly turned away, hiding his expression.

"There's a hole in your logic, Ryuuzaki_._" He said as he made his way back to the table to collect his things.

"Really? May I ask what that is?"

"I've always been an average student." Light said, suppressing a victorious smirk. "You can't believe that I've been manipulating my grades my whole life just so that I could one day kill my father."

They walked in silence a bit as they exited the lunchroom, continuing out to the high school's foyer.

"No, not your whole life." Lawliet agreed. "But I have a theory for that, and it is also a very crucial piece to my puzzle."

"Oh, and what's this theory?" But his question was entirely ignored as Lawliet turned down a different hallway. "Hey, where are you going!"

"My next class is this way." He said, unapologetic and not bothering to turn around. "We'll talk later."

"But, that way only leads to the exit!" Light shouted out as Ryuuzaki rounded the corner and disappeared.

Light scoffed as he turned back and made his way to his own destination. It still seemed strange to him that Lawliet Ryuuzaki would have any interest in police matters, despite his claims. He would have to look into that further.

It wasn't until the end of his last period, gym class, that he found an opportunity to inquire about the odd boy.

He sat astride the narrow bench as his classmates were changing back into their street clothes and preparing for the final bell. Thoughts about his lunchtime visitor plagued him. Just who was this guy? Ryuuzaki seemed too intelligent for a high school student. Was he, perhaps, some kind of spy? Now Light was just being paranoid. The notion that a detective would go undercover at a high school sounded like the plot from some B-rated Hollywood movie. That was completely ridiculous.

"Aren't you gonna change?"

The tentative voice shook Light from his thoughts. Drew Nelson, he recognized him from a couple of classes they had together. The other boy was about his height and scrawny with rather striking features, dark hair and clear blue eyes. Light imagined that once he grew out of his awkward phase Drew could become an actor with his good looks and charm. Extraordinarily outgoing, he was usually the first to comment or crack a joke and people felt at ease around him. He was, also, one of the few who didn't immediately back down upon making eye contact with Light. Despite that, they'd never spoken before and Light wondered what made him so bold now.

"Yeah, in a minute." He answered.

Drew Nelson gave him a shaky smile, backing away slowly. Light was suddenly struck with the image of a gazelle attempting to skirt a hungry cheetah and had to force himself not to laugh. Seriously, it wasn't as if Light was poised to lunge. Most of the students treated him like a loaded gun; cocked and ready to fire. It must have been a mix of insatiable curiosity and Drew's intense desire to know everything about everyone that caused him to approach the 'dangerous' new student. With that kind of determination, Light imagined that he might actually know everyone by now.

That last thought gave him an idea.

"Hey, Drew." The other boy froze the moment his name was uttered. Now the image Light had in his head was of a deer caught in headlights. "I was wondering if you might know a student, I think he's a senior, named Lawliet Ryuuzaki?"

The boy brightened, visibly more confident then he had been a moment before. "'Course I know him, he stands out."

"Yeah, I guess he does." Light said, giving Drew his best encouraging smile. He could have sworn he saw the boy blush a little. "What do you know about him?" He asked, trying to make his tone inquisitive as opposed to questioning.

"Why you askin'?" He questioned, settling down on the bench, mirroring Light's position.

Light thought about that a moment and decided that a semi-truth wouldn't hurt. "He sat with me at lunch today… I guess I'm just curious." He shrugged as if his reasoning wasn't a big deal.

The blue-eyed boy leaned forward a little, an excited gleam lit his eyes. Light was fairly certain that Drew was one of those people who lived for gossip. Perhaps he should be more careful of what he says around the other from now on. "Truth is, no one really knows much about Ryuuzaki. He's kinda a loner. But word is that he was born here in Boston and lived here through elementary school before being sent to England to live with his grandfather. He only just moved back a little more then a year ago."

Light mulled over that information a bit before asking, "Why was he sent to live with his grandfather?"

"Well... I've heard everything from his parents dying tragically to them abandoning him, and even one story about them sending him to a mental institution his grandfather runs. Personally, I think they died. I mean Ryuuzaki's... different, but I don't think he's crazy."

Light had to agree. The strange boy had a certain way about him that flowed. His mannerisms were odd, but they seemed to be trained habits as opposed to brash actions made by an unstable mind. He was about to ask Drew another question when the final bell rang signaling the end of school.

Drew immediately jumped from the bench, slinging his backpack onto his shoulder. Light followed suit, except instead of grabbing for his own pack he reached over to his locker and swiftly spun the dial in the correct pattern to release the lock.

The other boy paused before exiting, looking back at Light as if unsure if he should continue without him. Light wondered if Drew had mistakenly taken this conversation as a pretense for friendship. Information was all he required, anything else was neither wanted nor welcome. After all, Light had learned very young that trust easily manipulated people to believe or do anything. The only person he would, or ever could, trust was Sayu.

"Just go." Light said, waving him off. "You'll miss the bus."

"What about you?"

"I'm within walking distance." The lie fell past Light's lips with practiced ease.

Once the other boy left, Light glanced at the clock on the wall and began dressing with speed. He had somewhere he needed to be.

...

(1)- Anna Karenina is a novel by Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, also the author of War and Peace.


End file.
